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Starting 1-to-1 Conversations:
Direct SMS from Rep to Contact
1-to-1 conversations are direct, real-time SMS threads between your team and individual contacts — used for warm follow-ups after OTTO qualification, relationship conversations, and manual outreach to specific contacts.
The Conversations panel is where OTTO-qualified leads become human conversations. Most 1-to-1 threads start because OTTO delivered a warm lead — the rep picks up where the automation left off.
Starting a New Conversation
Picking Up an OTTO-Qualified Lead
When OTTO completes a qualification conversation, the email lead alert includes the contact’s phone number and the full conversation transcript. From there, the rep opens the Conversations panel, finds or creates the thread with that contact, and continues from where OTTO left off — the contact has already been primed by the Prepare Caller message and is expecting the call.
Reference the OTTO transcript in your opening 1-to-1 message: “Hi Sarah — following up on your HVAC inquiry. I see you’re looking for service this week in Baltimore — I have availability Thursday. Does that work?” The context from OTTO makes the first message feel like a continuation, not a cold start.
Why OTTO-prepped leads answer at 70%+ — and how the 1-to-1 conversation is the warm handoff that closes what OTTO qualifies.
Read the Insight →Build a template library for common rep messages — Prepare Caller, follow-up, appointment confirmation, re-engagement — so every conversation starts with the right message.
Read the KB Article →How to configure the email notification that tells your team when OTTO has a qualified lead ready for 1-to-1 follow-up.
Read the Playbook →In-Thread Translation
During an active 1-to-1 conversation, your rep can translate an incoming message from another language into English, then type a reply in English — TextingOnly translates the outbound message into the contact’s preferred language on send. The contact sees only their language. The rep works only in English. No bilingual staffing required for the warm follow-up conversation.
This is distinct from Language Funnels, which handle the initial qualification — the interstitial-driven, pre-conversation language path selection. In-thread translation is for the warm follow-up conversation after qualification.